“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
When I was a child growing up in a Protestant religion, I heard that my church was the only way to heaven. But, I also heard from others that their way was the only way to the promised land.
It became a puzzle for me. Why was it that a religion that has been created by man claim to be the only way? How is it that this one group has the only set of instructions to build the best stairway to the ultimate prize?
I belong to an organization that has a thought about this. We say that “religion is for those that are afraid of going to hell, spirituality is for those that have already been there”.
That makes perfect sense to me. For me, a plan that is devised by man cannot be the only true way. There have been many spiritual leaders on this planet of ours that have spoken many spiritual truths.
It is just when we as the common people get involved and try to interpret these truths as the only way that we get messed up. It seems to me that if you boil most of their statements down to the essence they end up saying that love and forgiveness is the key.
A quote from another one of my favorite books reads “It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also….As we saw it, our wrath was always justified.”
This tells me that when I get upset, I need to look within ME. Not, look out to see who I can blame. I hear that when I am angry, I am afraid of loosing something that I have or not getting something that I want.
So, I believe that we should hold to “Love and tolerance is our creed” and enjoy life. It is too short to walk around pissed off.
Life is as good as I allow it to be.
Mail this postTechnorati Tags: religion, heaven
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Brenda 05.01.08 at 8:45 pm
I can identify with this post 100%. As a child it troubled me greatly where I was told that children in far away lands wouldn’t go to heaven because they didn’t worship the same god as I. It impacted me so profoundly … well, I’ve written down those recollections in a story to publish on my blog some day, I just need to get it done! Today’s my day for reading blogs, not posting, but maybe your words here are the impetus I need to dust that story off!
You must log in to post a comment.